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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774838">Gone</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords/pseuds/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords'>flowerpetalsandwrittenwords</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Law &amp; Order: SVU</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bensler reunion, Comfort, Eventual Bensler, F/M, Found Family, The Family of SVU, sad shit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-01</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-16 01:33:37</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,504</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29774838</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords/pseuds/flowerpetalsandwrittenwords</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Elliot returns to Olivia's life in a time of grief a decade after he disappeared. They had missed each other terribly and thought of each other often. Liv doesn't understand how he could have disappeared, but now she just wants his comfort due to tragedy that they both mourn. He had always wondered how she was after he left, but when he arrives in her life, he discovers how much good she has in her life and how close her found family is. But as they grieve, they also must deals with the ten years and the feelings that stand between who they once were and who they are now.</p><p>My idea on the promo for the April 1st Bensler reunion with a lot of family time that we probably won't have on the show and some tragedy that is always possible in canon.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Olivia Benson &amp; Elliot Stabler, Olivia Benson &amp; Noah Benson, Olivia Benson/Elliot Stabler</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>31</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Gone</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“I don’t know what to eat for dinner, Noah. How about Chinese?” Olivia says to Noah over facetime as she walks out of her office. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“That’s good!” He agrees before saying, “I can’t wait to show you the project I did at school today. Can I show you while we eat tonight?” The excitement on her son’s face brings a smile to her own. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I would love that! I just know that whatever this project is will be absolutely amazing!” She says, walking past a mostly empty squadroom into the hall. “Now, what is your food order? And ask Lucy if she would like anything to eat.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Noah calls over to Lucy before saying to his mom, “I want the usual, and Lucy said thank you, but that she doesn’t need anything.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Okay. I will—” Olivia begins, but loses her train of thought when the elevator door opens just before she reaches it, revealing Fin and Amanda. Fin looks frantic. Liv has never seen him like that. And Amanda has tears running down her face freely. She has never seen that either. “What’s wrong?” Olivia asks immediately. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Liv, it’s Cragen,” Amanda says in a pained voice that cracks partway through their former captain’s name. </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“What happened?” Olivia asks, stepping onto the elevator and forgetting that her son is on the phone as tears threaten to erupt from her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was in a car accident. It just came over the wires when we were leaving. We came back to get you as soon as we heard. We’re going there,” Fin says as he touches Olivia’s arm softly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yes, we are,” she agrees. “Did they see how he is? Why was he here? He hasn’t lived here since he married Eileen. He always called ahead when he came to visit.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“It was a surprise. He and Eileen came for your ceremony, but they got in a week early. Cragen said he was planning on giving Eileen several nights out on the town,” Fin says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He was surprising her with Broadway tickets tonight,” Amanda says with a sad smile on her face. “As for his condition, we just don’t know, Liv. All that came over the wires was that it’s a critical for a former NYPD captain, Don Cragen. That’s what we heard.” Olivia gasps in pain and fear. She grasps onto her chest, doubling over. Amanda wraps her arms around her immediately, and Fin pats her back as they continue down on the elevator. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Mom?” She hears then, remembering her son on the call and feeling guilty that she hadn’t thought of him before. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She straightens, pulling from their embrace as the elevator stops on the first floor. She wipes away the tears she didn’t realize that she had wept and lifts the phone as they run out the lobby of the station and climb into the car. “I’m sorry, Noah. Tell Lucy I won’t be coming home right now. I don’t know when. A friend…” she begins, but drifts off. </span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
  <span>As she looks to Amanda and Fin for help, Noah says, “Grandpa’s hurt. I heard. Is he going to be okay?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, I’m so sorry you heard that. I don’t know. I don’t. But Uncle Fin, Aunt Amanda, and I are going to go to him,” she says. She wants to promise him that he’ll be fine, but she can’t speak the words now. She tells her son the truth, after all, always. “I have to go. I love you with all of my heart.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I love you too, Mom,” he says. Whenever he calls her that instead of mommy, she is struck by how her son has grown. This time, he seems so much older for that, but also for the knowledgeable tone in his voice. He has been through so much. “Be careful, Mommy,” he says then, and this time she is struck by how young he is. He’s frightened for his mommy on top of everything else. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bye,” she says and ends the calls sadly. Amanda touches Liv’s shoulder as comfort as Fin speeds down the road with his lights and sirens on. He is focused on getting them there, and Liv and Amanda are focused on praying for Cragen.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They hear the sirens and see the flashing lights a few blocks before they get there. Fin parks in haste amongst the mass of police cars. Ambulance sirens blare and lights flash, blocking the car accident from their view. They get out of the car and run towards the closest of two ambulances. The crowd surrounding the accident is thick with police along with other bystanders. They push through hastily and without much regard for the onlookers. A cop standing at the police tap stops them as they try to go beneath the tape. Olivia pulls out her badge and says, “Captain Benson. Sergeant Tutola, and Detective Rollins, we were all in Cragen’s unit.” The uniform officer raises the tape, and they pass beneath it and run to the ambulance. No one is in it, so they continue to the accident with Olivia leading them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The destruction of the accident is so bad that Olivia stops in her tracks with Amanda and Fin coming to either side of her. The two cars hit head on. The glass is broken in each. One went over the other some. “That’s Cragen’s car,” Amanda points to the more damaged vehicle. The other vehicle is empty, but Cragen’s car has two people in it. The paramedics block most of the view as they try to operate, calling out things to their colleagues that Olivia, Amanda, and Fin cannot hear over the sirens. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, God, is that blood?” Olivia whispers, inable to speak louder, when she sees the red liquid leaking through the smashed car door and splattering onto the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We’re losing him!” The paramedic reaching though the window of the vehicle screams. That they all hear.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, God,” Amanda whispers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don!” A scream pierces through the air. Eileen. Olivia sets off full speed, running to the vehicle. Amanda and Fin are directly on her heels.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We have to get you out of here now, ma’am. You’re losing too much blood,” a paramedic says to Eileen loudly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No! My husband! He’s unconscious and bleeding! There’s so much blood! Don!” Eileen screams, but her pain and blood loss takes away much of her voice. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They come as close to the car as they can then. They see it all. Cragen is wounded and covered entirely in blood. His face is hardly discernible in all of the blood. His head is thrown back at an awkward angle between the seats. Eileen is reaching over to him, touching his face frantically and crying loud. The paramedics are trying to get her out of the car. She is covered in blood too, but she’s moving, and she’s screaming. She keeps screaming his name. “We have to get you into the ambulance now, ma’am,” the paramedic says. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Don!” She screams so loudly now. It rings in the ears of the paramedics and the police, but not in Cragen’s. And then Eileen screams in grief. It rattles in Eileen’s chest as her heart breaks. She knows, and so do they. Eileen goes unconscious. The paramedics on the passenger’s side pull her out of car quickly, rolling her to one of the two ambulances there.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“He’s gone,” the paramedic says to his coworkers. Olivia screams. It is louder than the sirens. Everyone in the crowd hears it. She stumbles back from the wreck with her hand over her mouth. She moves past Fin’s outstretched hand, avoiding his grasp, and towards the crowd and the unused ambulance. Fin pulls Amanda into his arms as she sobs, but keeps his eyes on Olivia. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She wanders aimlessly. She leans against the ambulance and then pulls back from it. Some of the cops have moved past the barricade, trying to see if what they suspect is true. Her face is frozen in grief, in horror as she stands in front of the ambulance that Cragen won’t be using. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That’s when she hears it, and she turns. </span>
  <span></span><br/>
<span><br/>
</span>
  <span>“Liv!” His voice calls out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Elliot,” she whispers, looking for him in the crowd. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Her eyes land on him for the first time in a decade. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He runs to her. He had heard the scream. He knew it was her. He knew why. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She doesn’t think. Not about the decade that passed between them without a word. Not about how he has aged. Not about his family. Not about why he managed to be here. Not about anything that she had wondered about for the past ten years. She looks at him. She thinks only of hugging him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He thinks the same.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He reaches her and pulls her into a hug. The first tear escapes her. He cries quietly into her hair. They hold each other close. It sets in for her. “My father is dead,” she whispers. The first sob wrecks her as he hugs her tight against him. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I guess I wanted to break my own heart with this one... I do apologize. 😭</p><p>I would love to know what you think. Thank you so much for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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